Jefferson Morley

June 17, 1972. For me, it was the day of my wedding. By my first anniversary, it was the day of the Watergate break-in. We watched the Senate hearings amazed to realize the significance of that day in history, personal and national.

As I well know, its been fifty years since that day. It was time to revisit those events (Watergate, that is!) and discover new insights.

Scorpions’ Dance is about what Helms and Nixon had on each other, the secrets they kept and the secrets they shared.
from show more Scorpions’ Dance by Jefferson Morley

I was hooked from the Introduction. Morley argues that Watergate was the culmination of the relationship between Dick Helms, respected director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and President Richard M. Nixon. He narrates a history of CIA involvement in a plot to kill Fidel Castro and the murder of a nonpolitical general in Chile that Helms covered up. He connects CIA men and hired assassins and criminals to the Watergate break-in. He paints a picture of a uncontrite president and a CIA director who bent laws, and even lied, convinced it was for national security.

The story arc goes back to the assassination of President Kennedy and the order that the Warren Commission conclude that Oswald was a lone assassin, which Robert Kennedy never believed. Oswald said he was “a patsy”, then was (conveniently) killed by a man connected to the Mafia. Everyone wanted to wrap it up and move on. No one wanted the public to connect the dots, leading back to the plot to kill Castro. And, the CIA didn’t want anyone to realize that they had been tracking Oswald for years and had failed to protect the president.

The colorful cast of characters includes Howard Hunt, both a CIA spy and a novelist of spy novels. His CIA-produced film Animal Farm was a box office success; he had “tweaked” its anti-Communist message. Hunt was recruited to help overthrow the government of Guatemala whose plans upset the United Fruit Company. Along with Chuck Colson and G. Gordon Liddy, he became one of “The Plumbers” who were ordered to discover who a journalist obtained confidential information. There are the CIA’s “assassination program” hit men. Nixon’s faithful secretary and gatekeeper Rose Mary Woods who. oops, erased eighteen minutes of tape.

I want the break-in, Nixon stormed. Hell, they do that. You’re to break into that place, rifle the riles, and bring them in. Just go in and take it, period…
Richard Nixon quoted in Scorpions’ Dance by Jefferson Morley

Morley calls his book “a biography of power.” The personal power of two men, but also the power of the CIA which spied on Americans, including those involved with antiwar protests and civil rights activists. President Harry S. Truman was appalled by the CIA’s expansion into “peacetime cloak and dagger operations,” and pushed to end the organization he started. And the power of President Nixon, empowered by his landslide victory, who wanted dirt on his political foes.

The Watergate investigation did result in more oversight of the CIA. But the revelations in this book are disconcerting, and one has to wonder what else has been swept under the carpet.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. show less

This book needs to be read not only for the excellent analysis of how our political history led to our political present, but also for logic. The logic of mob mentality, the logic of blame, and the logic of 'divide and rule,' as our British friends say. White workers against Free men of Color rioted for mistaken reasons, but for understandable anger.

And another excellent quote regarding "The South's violent reaction," from page 174. Deliberate, even if indirect, incitement to violence is show more inimical to the cause of Democracy.

This book shows why when some are enslaved, none are free.

To Community,
Shira Destinie
MEOW Date: 1 September 12,014 H.E. (Holocene Era) show less

This book needs to be read not only for the excellent analysis of how our political history led to our political present, but also for logic. The logic of mob mentality, the logic of blame, and the logic of 'divide and rule,' as our British friends say. White orkers against Free men of Color rioted for mistaken reasons, but for understandable anger.

This book shows why when some are enslaved, none are free.

To Community,
Shira Destinie
MEOW Date: 1 September 12,014 H.E. (Holocene Era)

In between the War for Independence and the Civil War calls for the abolition of slavery began to grow in number and volume, but few people could imagine whites and former black slaves living peacefully side-by-side. Some favored re-settling freed slaves in Africa or the Caribbean, but understandably most blacks viewed America as their home and didn't relish the idea of being shipped off to a land they'd never known. But it didn't stop a few from agitating in southern states, and scattered show more reports of slave uprisings caused fear and anxiousness among those who owned such "human property."

Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835 by Jefferson Morley tells the story of combustible race relations in the American capitol. Arthur Bowen, a young slave owned by Anna Thornton (widow of William Thornton, designer of the U. S. Capitol) who enjoyed a fair amount of liberty, came home very drunk late one night. What is known is that he picked up an axe and entered his mistresses' bedroom where his own mother also slept, and mumbled some drunken threats. His actual intent isn't known but the women panicked and Arthur was eventually arrested and charged with attempted murder. In the already charged atmosphere, mobs of white men quickly formed and threatened to take Arthur to "Judge Lynch."

At the same time a former slave named Beverly Snow (a man, not a woman) ran a popular and successful restaurant in Washington. Unlike Arthur, Beverly did not mix much with those pressing for emancipation, but was very forward and cheeky in promoting himself and his restaurant (which bothered some people). Rumors quickly spread that Snow had made offensive comments about white women, and the two situations combined to feed mob riots which came to be known as the "Snow-Storm."

Morley has written an interesting account of this long forgotten episode of history. He adds in the story of F. S. Key, whose song "The Star-Spangled Banner" was later adopted as the national anthem, and who as District Attorney prosecuted Bowen and Reuben Crandall, a white man who was allegedly circulating abolitionist newspapers. It's not a deep or dry history but is instead very readable, including dialog as it was recorded at the time ("edited for clarity") and it mostly avoids moralizing or making too many judgments. It's an interesting view of the atmosphere and tensions in society as slavery began it's long and painful death.

(I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher. This review is modified from my 6/5/12 blog review at bookworm-dad.blogspot.com.) show less